Ima Asa Yoru II

April 26, 2024

   

It's hard to understate how taken were with our first visit to Ima Asa Yoru. Within little more than a month we returned for lunch, missed out on a table and grabbed some tasty takeaway from their bustling pantry, and booked ourselves in for dinner on a Friday night.

   

I would've loved to try their cocktail menu but I was feeling migraine-adjacent and satisfied myself with a yuzu and ginger soda ($8.50). Michael did Friday night right with a green apple whiskey ($20).

   

The night menu is split into cold and hot dishes, with plenty of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes clearly marked across the list. We covered most of the vegetarian ones, starting with a tsukemono (pickle) plate ($13) and melt-in-the-mouth eggplant agebidashi with refreshing daikon oroshi and ginger ($18).

   

The blooming onion ($16) was an unexpected and memorable option! It's served with a dainty mayonnaise and mustard, and actually well-handled with chopsticks.

   

The mixed mushrooms ($17) were more squarely within our expectations (in the best possible way): carefully cooked to preserve their varied textures with soy, spring onion oil and lemon zest, then showered with shredded nori.

   

I was excited for the chawanmushi ($21), an egg custard served with wood roasted heirloom tomatoes and pangrattato. It's garnished with their excellent chilli crisp, which is a complementary choice that's just too spicy for me to handle; all the more for Michael!

   

They absolutely redeemed themselves with their chocolate nemesis cake ($17), a dense and fudgy dessert that we happily split between the two of us. The cream had to be spooned separately to detect the promised yuzu.

Dinner at Ima Asa Yoru was a slightly more mixed experience for me than breakfast, but that's more a matter of my taste than any shortfalls on their part. The food is consistently made with care and flair.

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You can read about our first visit to Ima Asa Yoru here.

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Ima Asa Yoru

1 Duckett St, Brunswick

9989 2309

night menu, non-alcoholic drinks, alcoholic drinks

https://www.imaproject.co/

Accessibility: Entry to Ima Asa Yoru includes shallow, wide ramps. Furniture is densely packed, made up of low tables with backed chairs and high benches with backed and backless stools (I find it difficult to comfortably use the footrest). We ordered at our table and paid at a low open counter. We didn't visit the toilets.